Sir William Armand, a prominent lawyer, is found murdered, stabbed through the eyes near his country house on the Northumbrian coast. The timing appears suspicious, immediately following his order to his daughter, Estelle, to break off her engagement with the man she loves, Jack Derwick. A gruesome white ‘berry’ and a charm against the evil eye imprinted at the base of a tree are found where Sir William met his terrible death. Dr Eustace Hailey, a forty-something surgeon, scientist and amateur detective, investigates and succeeds in running to cover a strange and awful manifestation of distorted passion.